Fairgoers at the 2018 Kentucky State Fair were met with over an acre of exhibit space, dedicated completely to Kentucky agriculture and farm families.

AgLand, a new family-friendly interactive exhibit space brought together commodity groups, 4-H and FFA to create one space for some of the top agricultural attractions at the fair. In a press release prior to the fair, Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles said, “…there will be something for everyone at AgLand.”

When fairgoers entered AgLand on opening day, Quarles promise held true as visitors of all ages began interacting with the different agriculture booths and 4-H and FFA members participated in competitions.

The Kentucky Pork Producers played a big role in several of AgLand’s most popular attractions.

The Kentucky Pork Producers has been the longtime sponsor of the Discovery Farm, an interactive area full of live farm animals that allows fairgoers to interact with the animals and learn more about how they are raised on modern farms through informational signs displayed near the pens. The Discovery Farm is especially popular among children and school groups, drawing a big crowd every day of the fair.

Cloverville, the home of many of Kentucky 4-H’s state competitions and activities, was redesigned this year to accommodate the move to AgLand. The Kentucky Pork Producers sponsored some of the materials needed for the new and improved Cloverville.

Rounding out the Kentucky Pork Producer’s involvement was an educational booth focused on Kentucky’s hog farm families. The booth featured informational panels and photos of Kentucky farmers in their hog barns.

The interactive component of the booth celebrated two fan favorites – bacon and Kentucky Pork Producers pork chop sandwiches. Fairgoers had the opportunity to take a photo in front of the backdrop with one of the Kentucky Pork Producer’s famous pork chop sandwiches. Or they could venture to the bacon side of the display and grab a prop to pose for a bacon themed selfie.

Kentucky Pork Producers Executive Director Bonnie Jolly says she is thrilled with the move to AgLand and the many roles that the pork producers played throughout it. “I think everyone was a little worried how it would go this first year but I knew it was going to be a good move. Any time we can get more people excited about pork and it’s a good thing!” said Jolly.